Sanskarika Traffic Opened to the Public on 9 November Newsletter of the Indian Cultural Centre, Colombo September 2014 1903
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The carriages were built by the Railway itself from 1903 onwards. The first were Cultural Calendar very simple 4-wheeled carriages, light and short (17 feet). In 1910 new carriages September 2014 were introduced using steel under-frames and bogies, thereby reducing the number of derailments. The KSR initially had 4 travel classes. Furthermore, extremely luxurious Film : Taare Zameen Par saloon cars could be rented. The second 10 Directed by Aamir Khan car of this type, built in 1912 (RA-2), has Hindi (Duration 3 hrs) been conserved and restored. Subsequent Wednesday 3.00 pm passenger carriages were made lighter and Venue: ICC Auditorium Sanskarika Traffic opened to the public on 9 November Newsletter of the Indian Cultural Centre, Colombo September 2014 1903. But exceptionally heavy snowfall protected against the effects of corrosion damaged the track on 26 December of by the use of aluminium. the same year, causing a large number of landslides. Difficult operating conditions In 1911, petrol-driven Rail Motor Cars were A Bharatha Natyam Duet were thus added to the high cost of initial introduced on the line to carry mail. They by Ananya and establishment, and despite the high fares were made by the Drewery Car Co. Ltd. in 12 the Railway experienced serious financial London, and were equipped with White Apoorva S. Rao from India Friday 6.00 pm difficulties. Its strategic importance led & Poppe 17 HP engines. Car no. 12 of Venue: ICC Auditorium the government to acquire the line on 1st this type is preserved in the National Rail January 1905. Museum, New Delhi. Diesel-electric motor cars were introduced from 1932, with large The first steam locomotives were windows to give panoramic views of the Hindi Diwas 4-wheeled engines (1900), and these were magnificent Himalayan mountain scenery. A Variety programme followed by 6-wheeled (1902) and finally One of these cars (no. 8) is known as the by the Hindi students “Queen of Shivalik”. With this type of car, 15 10-wheeled engines. They were made by of the Indian Cultural Centre the total journey time was reduced to Stewart & Co of Glasgow. The locomotive Monday 4.00 pm 4½ hours, which is still the same today. Venue: ICC Auditorium models were derived from those used Generally speaking, the KSR has always on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. This attempted to improve its rolling stock, rolling stock remained in service until 1953 both in terms of technical performance with no major modifications. Friday Matinee and passenger comfort. Pinjar The locomotives were then modified by Source : Directed by the German company Henschel: increase Website - http://whc.unesco.org/ Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi 19 in water and coal capacities, modification Hindi (Duration 3 hrs) Friday 3.00 pm of the grate, modification of the valve gear. Venue: ICC Auditorium The modified steam locomotives began to be scrapped in the 1970s, and the last ones remained in service until 1980. They were replaced by diesel engines from 1952 onwards. One of the steam “Biriyani” Cookery Demonstration locomotives initially delivered in 1905 (KC 26 by Shefali Nagar Vasanji 520) has been restored by KSR, in 2001, in of Meethi Mirchi order to re-establish the tradition of steam Friday 10.00 am traction in the mountains, which today has Venue: ICC been almost completely forgotten. Programmes subject to change Published by the Indian Cultural Centre,16/2, Gregory’s Road Colombo 07, Tel: 011 2684698 Admission to all programmes are on first come first served basis Email: [email protected] Facebook: facebook.com/indianculturalcentre All are cordially invited 2330195 UNIE ARTS, Photograph by Rajesh Dhar managed by the State-owned Northeast Some 7 km, from Mettupalaiyam to Kallar in 1873. The problem was how to replace Cultural Frontier Railway. (elevation 405 m), across the central plain the tedious ascent by bullock-cart or pony of Tamil Nadu, with its betel-nut palm to Coonoor. In 1873, the district engineer Tapestry The DHR consists of 88.48 km of 2 ft and other plantations. Maximum speed is of the Nilgiris, J.L.L. Morant, proposed (0.610 m) gauge track that connects New 30 km/h called the Blue Mountain Express, building a rack railway, but the first offers Jalpaiguri with Darjeeling, passing through the name of which was changed recently were reclined. Sir Guildford Molesworth, Mountain Railways of India eleven stations between the two termini. to the native Nilgiri Express. the former engineer in chief of the Ceylon One of these, Ghoom, is the second highest Government Railway, acting as consultant railway station in the world, at an altitude The rack section of the line, from Kallar to to the Government of India, advised a of 2258 m. Because it passes through a Coonoor (elevation 1,712 m). There are rack and adhesion line on the model of mountainous region, 73% of the total length 208 curves and 13 tunnels, and 27 viaducts. the Abt system built in the Harz Mountains in this field. It was operational in this region of the line consists of curves, the sharpest of The Kallar Bridge over the River Bhawani, foothills of the Himalaya. By this time the tea in Germany. In 1882, M. Riggenbach, in 1856. which is that between Sukna and Rongtong, the Adderley Viaduct and the Burliar Bridge industry had become of great importance the Swiss inventor of Rigi rack railway, where the track passes through 120°. There are examples of such composite bridges. for the Darjeeling region, and the existing submitted a proposal for the construction The first engineering development work was are six reverses and three loops on the line, Here, the railway climbs through almost road transport system was inadequate to of the railway line. This was accepted, carried out in 1884-85, to establish a steam the most famous of these being the Batasia uninhabited, tropical jungle. cope with the increased traffic. Franklin and the Nilgiri Rigi Railway Company Ltd traction “adhesion line” with a gradient not Loop between Ghoom and Darjeeling. Prestage, Agent of the Eastern Bengal was formed in 1885. The work was exceeding 30/1000 (1/33), using the narrow The steepest gradient is 1 in 18 (in zigzag A stretch of 18 km runs through a Railway, submitted a detailed proposal for a inaugurated in 1891, and finally completed gauge principle. The project was submitted to the government but was not immediately The development of railways in the 19th reverses). The Toy Train, as it is affectionately landscape with dominant eucalyptus and steam railway from Siliguri to Darjeeling. This in 1908. Subsequently the railway was run taken up. Development work was revived century had a profound influence on social known, affords breathtaking views of high acacia forest. The railway continues to received official approval and construction by different companies, and was then by the arrival of the Delhi railway line at Kalka, and economic developments in many waterfalls, green valleys that are often climb across the Nilgiris until it reaches work began immediately. By 1881 it had incorporated into the Southern Railway in 1891. Other shorter layouts and other parts of the world. The two Mountain hidden by cloud, and at its end the the summit, just before the terminus of been completed in three stages. in 1951. The British began to move into Railways of India on the World Heritage splendid panorama of the snow-capped Udagamandalam at 2,203 m. technical solutions were then considered by the engineers, such as the rack system. List are outstanding examples of the Kanchenjunga range. There are several The privately owned Darjeeling Himalayan Finally a contract was signed between the interchange of values on developments in distinct sections: the 10 km plains section Historical Description Railway (hereafter referred to as the DHR) government and the Ambala-Kalka Railway, technology, and the impact of innovative between Siliguri and Sukna (partly urban was purchased by the Government of India for the construction and operation of an transportation system on the social and and partly agricultural), the 11 km densely in October 1948. Since 1958 it has been adhesion line with a gauge of 2 feet. The economic development of a multicultural forested section from Sukna to beyond managed by the State-owned Northeast final general design project was presented region, which was to serve as a model for Rongtong, the 38 km largely deforested Frontier Railway. Protected by wild, jungle- and approved in 1899. It comprised the similar developments in many parts of the open hill section with its many tea gardens covered escarpments and located at an technical development work, the costing world. to Kurseong, and finally the 30 km alpine elevation of roughly 2000 meters, the Nilgiris and the rolling stock. The Railway had to section to Darjeeling, dominated by stands hills were isolated until the 19th century meet the cost of construction on its own; of Himalayan pine and tea gardens. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is intimately with their tribal inhabitants, the Todas. The only the land was provided by the public this region of India in around 1820, and linked with the development of Darjeeling name of the hills means Blue Mountains authorities. as the queen of hill stations and one of The Nilgiri Mountain Railway consists of in Sanskrit and reflects the perspective the first railway projects were particularly the main tea-growing areas in India, in the 45.88 km of a 1 m gauge single-track, partly of a person looking at them from below. early, in the 1840s. However the broad The work was begun, but at the request early 19th century. The densely wooded rack-and-pinion railway that connects British settlement in the hills began in 1820.